NEW YORK The campaign by western nations to defund the Kremlin and force President Vladimir Putin to abandon his war in Ukraine is reaching a delicate phase. From Feb 5, the European Union (EU) will join Britain and the US in banning seaborne imports of Russian diesel and other oil products. The measure, coupled with a price cap on Russian fuel exports, is designed to blow a sizable hole in Moscow’s energy revenues. The flip side: If European buyers are unable to find alternative supplies, the sanctions would heap new ...

North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a major coal producer in the country, aims to speed up the development of its new-energy sector in 2023. As part of regionwide efforts this year, Inner Mongolia will accelerate the construction of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases, and projects that use wind and photovoltaic power for hydrogen production, according to Wang Lixia, chairwoman of the autonomous region. The region will seek to increase its grid-connected installed capacity of new-energy power generation by more than 25 million kilowatts, Wang said while delivering a ...

Mexican state oil company Pemex produced an average of 1.856 million barrels per day in January, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday, reiterating that production has recovered since he took office in 2018. An energy nationalist, Lopez Obrador has sought to boost Pemex’s (PEMX.UL) production in new oil fields to compensate for declining production in older ones. Source: Reuters

U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 7% on Monday from a 19-month low in the prior session on forecasts for colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. That price increase came even though many in the market believe the United States has more than enough gas in storage for the rest of the winter and growing expectations that Freeport LNG’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas will not return to service until February or later. Freeport LNG, meanwhile, has said repeatedly ...

Baker Hughes Co missed fourth-quarter profit estimates on Monday as the oilfield services firm navigated challenges including component shortages, supply chain inflation and disruption caused by Russia’s invasion on Ukraine. Drilling activity picked up in 2022 in response to elevated oil prices, but the pace remains slower than pre-pandemic levels as several energy producers prioritized shareholder payouts over production growth. The oilfield sector last year was impacted by workforce shortages, inflation and supply chain constraints. “In 2023, the global economy is expected to experience some challenges under the weight of ...

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were mixed on Monday due to low wind speeds, planned outages at the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) and healthy inventories for the time of year. The British within-day contract rose by 2.00 pence to 170 p/therm by 1028 GMT, while the day-ahead contract was down 6 pence at 167 p/therm, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Total Norwegian export nominations were down from 337 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) to 303 mcm/d on Monday, with several planned outages due to take place this week, ...

Crude oil prices in much of the world’s physical markets have started the year with a rally amid signs of more buying from China after it eased COVID-19 restrictions and concern that sanctions on Russia could tighten supply. China, the world’s biggest crude importer, started rolling back its zero-COVID policy in early December in a development the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects will boost global oil demand this year to a record high. At the same time, a European Union ban on Russian crude imports which took effect in December ...

Oil markets were subject to a series of large shocks in 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late- February and the ensuing sanctions, embargoes, and the price cap on Russian oil imports; a coordinated response by oil-consuming nations (led by the US) to control prices by a massive release of strategic stocks; recessionary and inflationary pressures weighing on the global economy; China’s demand shocks from its strict zero-COVID policy; and the massive transformations in crude and products trade flows just to mention a few. Of course, oil markets are not ...

The European Union’s gas price cap, which launches next month, could impact financial stability and potentially curb liquidity in Europe’s exchange-traded gas markets, the bloc’s financial market regulators said in a draft report seen by Reuters. EU countries agreed in December to a gas price cap that will kick in if Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gas hub prices spike to high levels that are also significantly above liquefied natural gas prices – a long-debated policy designed to avoid the record-high gas prices Europe experienced last year. In a report due ...

Oil prices rose by around 1% on Monday to a seven-week high, extending last week’s gains on the back of a stronger outlook thanks to an expected economic recovery in top oil importer China this year. Brent crude was up $1.28, or 1.5%, at $88.91 a barrel at 11:06 a.m. EST (1606 GMT). The session high was $88.99 a barrel, highest since Dec. 1. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 76 cents, or 0.9%, to $82.40. The session high was $82.64 a barrel, highest since Dec. 5. Last week ...

Iran is counting on selling 1.4 million b/d of crude oil at $85/b under next year’s budget law, partly by the use of a barter system, with a general draft approved by parliament on Jan. 22, local media reported. “The next year’s budget has predicted oil barter to produce income,” President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech addressing the assembly, according to news agency ISNA. The new Iranian year will start in March. Platts-assessed Dated Brent was $85.90/b on Jan. 20, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data. The new ...

The tighter monetary policy introduced by central banks across much of the world in 2022 was a key contributor to oil market volatility during the year, with potential to still be felt this year, according to OPEC. Increased central bank hawkishness from the end of the first quarter of 2022 has been one of the key factors influencing crude oil market growth during the year, along with COVID-19 restrictions in China and the war in Ukraine. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) was one of the first key central banks to ...

A different type of energy transition has taken place at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting. Unlike 2021’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, where oil and gas executives were personae non gratae, fossil fuel chiefs and renewable energy bosses sat cheek by jowl in Davos. Activists like Greta Thunberg don’t like it. But some in the solar, wind and hydro industry are warming to the carbon crowd. Tejpreet Chopra, who heads one of India’s clean energy firms Bharat Light and Power, was surprised to be invited to a side-event ...

Germany has been hit hardest by the de-facto end of Russian gas supplies to Western Europe, and while it is still too early to give the all-clear for Europe’s top economy, a warm winter and brimming gas caverns have at least provided a breather. Below are answers to the most urgent questions: HOW HAS GERMANY RESPONDED TO THE LOSS OF RUSSIAN GAS? Germany launched a multi-layered strategy to reign in demand and source alternatives following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent decline in gas deliveries. Supply via the Nord ...

As Europe’s fastest-growing energy consumer since 2010, and a ratifier of the Paris agreement to cap emissions, Turkey is viewed as a critical energy transition test case seeking to retool its power system while sustaining economic growth. With a population of 85 million and a major manufacturing base on the doorstep to Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Turkey has been a prominent advocate of reducing fossil fuel emissions while developing renewable energy supplies in recent years. Between 2018 and 2021, the country managed to increase overall electricity generation by ...